“Chicago Wilderness (CW)” refers to both > 200,000 ha of protected lands and the alliance of >200 institutions that aims to “. . . preserve, improve, and expand nature and quality of life . . . to ensure a resilient region.” We report on three projects conducted on managed and unmanaged CW woodlands by the CW Research Team: RESTORE, 100 Sites, and Food Web.
RESTORE views the CW lands under ecological restoration and the institutions that manage them as a social-ecological system (SES). We hypothesized that different modes of decision-making would lead to different biodiversity outcomes. We tested this hypothesis by comparing differences in organizational structure and decision-making processes of ten organizations to variation in the understory vegetation of 14 oak woodlands managed by these organizations.
The 100-Sites project consists of >100 widely separated 1-ha sites designated as Unmanaged, Intermediate Management and Reference (managed areas whose vegetation structure is close to long-term management goals). We hypothesized that restoration of the plant community would shift the structure of the forest-floor arthropod community. We tested this hypothesis by comparing communities in 5 unmanaged and 18 managed woodlands.
The Food Web project has investigated the stability of the spider-dominated food web of forest-floor leaf litter over four years by using quantitative PCR to detect prey DNA in the guts of spiders inhabiting a high-quality oak woodland 22 miles from downtown Chicago.
Results/Conclusions
RESTORE: Diverse planning processes did not manifest distinctly different ecological results, which has implications for the overall reliance of this urban SES. Encouraging diversity in the social processes of ecological restoration while continuing ecological research on how to best achieve specific restoration goals is a likely road to long-term restoration success in metropolitan regions.
100 Sites: Arthropod communities differed between the three management categories. Invasive isopods were more abundant in unmanaged sites dominated by invasive plants, and high numbers of native springtails characterized Reference sites.
Food Web: Structure of the forest-floor food web was stable over four years, suggesting that this CW woodland is an excellent laboratory for basic ecological research.
These research projects involved collaborations between land managers, research ecologists, social science researchers, and amateur citizen scientists. The projects connected people to nature in myriad ways. Results of the research and the growing collaborative network suggest that restoration, conservation and research in the Chicago Wilderness are strengthening interrelated components of this urban SES, building a more resilient system.